As someone who supports the carbon rebate and thinks it’s a good policy, I have to admit that Carney is right. Trudeau screwed up the implementation, and now a policy that gives most Canadians more money than they pay is a third rail.
Replacing the tax with something more acceptable, and equally effective seems like a good way forward.
I think the most reasonable complaint against direct carbon pricing is that people who are living in poverty can’t afford to wait for the next rebate to come in.
It sounds like Carney is just proposing incentives (which seems kinda ineffective for consumers), which wouldn’t have that drawback.
Can’t you just pay it ahead of time?
I think the biggest issue with the carbon tax is that when gas prices go up, people just assume it’s all because of carbon tax.
That sounds like an issue with people, not with the tax.
I’d argue this is an issue with messaging. The government did such a bad job explaining to people what the tax was and how it works. For example, I talked with sooo many people who swore they weren’t getting their Carbon Tax Rebates but just didn’t realise that’s what the CAI payments were.
This is why Trump made such a big deal about getting those Covid cheques with his name on it. Because the messaging and education matters a lot more than the actual policy.
People would 100% remember getting a carbon cheque from Justin Trudeau. No one even knows what the fuck a CAIP is.